Committee on the Rights of the Child

List of issues prior to submission of the combined sixth and seventh periodic reports of Sweden *

1.The State party is requested to submit in writing the information requested below (21,200 words maximum), if possible before 30 June 2021. The replies should take into consideration the Committee’s recommendations contained in its concluding observations (CRC/C/SWE/CO/5) adopted on 30 January 2015. The Committee may take up all aspects of children’s rights set out in the Convention during the dialogue with the State party.

I.New developments

2.The Committee requests the State party to provide:

(a)Information on the adoption or reform of laws, policies and programmes, and any other type of measures taken, such as the creation or reform of institutions, that are significant for the implementation of the Convention, the Optional Protocol thereto on the involvement of children in armed conflict and the Optional Protocol thereto on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography;

(b)Information, as appropriate, on measures taken to ensure the protection of the rights of children in the context of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and to mitigate the adverse impacts of the pandemic, in view of the statement of the Committee of 8 April 2020 on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on children;

(c)Any other information that the State party considers relevant in this regard and that is not covered in the replies to the questions below, including information on obstacles and challenges faced.

3.The Committee also requests the State party to provide information on how a child rights-based approach is integrated into the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of measures for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, including with regard to child participation and data collection, and how such measures promote the realization of children’s rights under the Convention and the Optional Protocols thereto.

II.Rights under the Convention and the Optional Protocols

A.General measures of implementation (arts. 4, 42 and 44 (6))

Legislation

4.In view of the incorporation of the Convention into national legislation as of 1 January 2020, please provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to:

(a)Conduct a review of how national legislation and practices are aligned with the Convention;

(b)Ensure that the Convention and the Optional Protocols thereto prevail when provisions of domestic law conflict with them;

(c)Put into place a mandatory child rights impact assessment procedure for all new legislation, policies and administrative decisions affecting children at the national and subnational levels, including in response to the COVID-19 pandemic;

(d)Address disparities in the implementation of the Convention and child-related laws across counties and municipalities, including by implementing the recommendations of the committee that conducted the child rights inquiry in 2016.

Comprehensive policy, strategy and coordination

5.Please provide information on the following:

(a)Mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the strategy to strengthen the rights of the child, adopted in 2010, and any measures taken or envisaged to adopt a follow-up strategy or corresponding action plan;

(b)Measures taken to establish a high-level mechanism with a clear mandate and the authority to ensure equal access to all rights for all children at the regional and local levelsand to monitor regional differences, specifically within the social services system.

Allocation of resources

6.Please provide detailed information on the measures taken to:

(a)Incorporate a child rights-based approach into the State budgeting process, such as by implementing a tracking system for the allocation and use of resources for children and undertaking assessments on how investments in all sectors serve the best interests of children;

(b)Ensure a transparent and participatory budgeting process, in particular by involving children;

(c)Ensure that children, in particular those in vulnerable situations, are not affected by regressive measures taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential consequences of the economic crisis triggered by those measures.

Data collection

7.Please provide an update to the Committee on recent efforts to improve the collection and quality of disaggregated data on the implementation of the Convention, in particular with regard to collecting data on: (a) children who are victims of violence, including child abuse and neglect, sexual exploitation and abuse, and trafficking; and (b) children in disadvantaged or vulnerable situations, including children with disabilities. Please also inform the Committee of any plans to collect data on the implementation of the Convention that is disaggregated by national origin and ethnic origin, in the light of the Statistics and Data Directorate of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) working paper, entitled “How do OECD countries collect data on ethnic, racial and indigenous identity?”.

Dissemination and awareness-raising

8.Please provide information on awareness-raising programmes, including campaigns and education programmes, for children and the systematic training of relevant professional groups, including the judiciary, on the Convention, the Optional Protocols thereto and the Committee’s previous concluding observations.

Independent monitoring

9.Please update the Committee on the measures taken or envisaged to provide the Ombudsman for Children or other independent, competent institutions with the mandate and resources to receive, investigate and address complaints raised by children.

Children’s rights and the business sector

10.Please provide information on the measures taken to:

(a)Assess the impact of the national action plan on business and human rights on children’s rights;

(b)Establish a regulatory framework for industries and their affiliates, including in the textile, electronics, food, travel and information and communications technology sectors, to ensure that their activities domestically and abroad do not adversely impact children’s rights.

B.General principles (arts. 2, 3, 6 and 12)

Non-discrimination

11.Please provide information on the measures taken to:

(a)Amend legislation to explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of ethnicity and to prohibit organizations from promoting and inciting racial hatred;

(b)Eliminate, in practice, discrimination against children in marginalized and disadvantaged situations, including children in disadvantaged socioeconomic situations, children in alternative care, asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children, Roma and Sami children, children of African descent and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex children;

(c)Monitor, receive and address complaints of discrimination against children.

Best interests of the child

12.Please inform the Committee about the measures taken to:

(a)Undertake mandatory child rights impact assessments for any proposed policy, legislative, regulatory, budget, international cooperation or other administrative decision which affects children and their enjoyment of their rights;

(b)Implement the recommendations made in the context of the child rights inquiry conducted in 2016 to incorporate the principle of the best interests of the child into legislation that has an impact on children;

(c)Ensure that the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a primary consideration is appropriately integrated into and consistently applied in all legislative, administrative and judicial proceedings and decisions, in particular those regarding custody and contact, alternative care, child justice, asylum and support for children who are victims or witnesses of crimes;

(d)Raise awareness of the meaning and practical application of the principle of the best interests of the child, including through guidance and training for relevant professional groups on determining and consistently applying the best interests of the child as a primary consideration.

Right to life, survival and development

13.Please provide information on the measures taken to prevent and address the root causes of suicide among children with disabilities, children who do not identify with the gender given to them at birth, transgender children and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.

Respect for the views of the child

14.Please describe the measures in place to:

(a)Amend the Aliens Act and other legislation to abolish the exception of inappropriateness and effectively implement the right of the child to be heard in any decision affecting her or him in relevant legal and administrative proceedings, including those concerning migration and asylum, custody, residence and contact, placement in alternative care and domestic violence, with no requirement for the consent of parents or guardians;

(b)Promote the meaningful participation of children within the family, the community, school and the realm of policymaking affecting children, including on climate change, at the county and municipal levels, including through awareness-raising activities;

(c)Conduct training for all relevant professionals, including teachers and social workers, on the right of the child to be heard and have his or her opinion taken into account.

C.Civil rights and freedoms (arts. 7, 8 and 13–17)

Statelessness and nationality

15.Please provide information on the following:

(a)Any legislative measures taken or envisaged to ensure that all Stateless children born in the State party, irrespective of residency status, have access to citizenship;

(b)The policy regarding the citizenship of children born abroad to a Swedish parent and of children taken abroad to join in hostilities.

Access to appropriate information

16.Please describe the measures taken to:

(a)Enhance the digital literacy and skills of children, teachers and families and protect children from information and material harmful to their well-being;

(b)Strengthen mechanisms for monitoring and investigating information and communications technology-related violations of children’s rights.

D.Violence against children (arts. 19, 24 (3), 28 (2), 34, 37 (a) and 39)

Torture and other cruel or degrading treatment or punishment

17.Please inform the Committee of the measures taken or envisaged to:

(a)Legally prohibit the use of solitary confinement, straps or belts and seclusion of children in mental health-care settings or any other institution;

(b)Provide training for medical and non-medical staff on non-violent and non-coercive methods of care;

(c)Regularly and effectively monitor conditions in all care institutions and ensure that children in such institutions have access to an independent complaint mechanism.

Abuse and neglect

18.Please provide information on the measures taken to:

(a)Assess the extent, causes and nature of child abuse and neglect and address the root causes of such violence, including through public awareness-raising activities and the allocation of sufficient human, technical and financial resources;

(b)Expand the legal definition of violence to include neglect and psychological violence;

(c)Ensure that children under 15 years of age who experience abuse or neglect, including from their parent or caregiver, receive adequate support;

(d)Provide training for relevant professionals, including teachers, health-care professionals, staff in institutions and social workers, on how to recognize the signs of the maltreatment of children;

(e)Allocate sufficient resources to social services to respond to reports of child abuse and neglect;

(f)Ensure the availability of legal support and child-friendly and confidential complaint mechanisms in schools, residential care settings, mental health-care settings and foster care systems.

Freedom of the child from all forms of violence, including sexual exploitation

19.Please provide information on the measures taken to:

(a)Develop a comprehensive strategy and action plan for preventing and combating all forms of violence against children and ensure the full participation of children in the development of such a strategy;

(b)Adopt legislation at the national level with the aim of regulating and coordinating the child-friendly and multisectoral services of barnahus (children’s houses) to ensure comprehensive quality standards, including for forensic interviews, medical evaluation and therapeutic support to all children who are victims, irrespective of where they live;

(c)Tackle cyberbullying, violence and hate crimes against children in communities and bullying, harassment and violence in schools;

(d)Prevent and protect children from sexual exploitation and abuse, including online sexual exploitation and abuse and gender-based violence against girls.

Harmful practices

20.Please inform the Committee about the measures taken to:

(a)Prevent the unnecessary medical or surgical treatment of intersex children and provide adequate counselling, support and access to effective remedies for children subjected to such treatment during childhood, including the statute of limitations for raising a claim against such treatment;

(b)Promptly investigate and effectively prosecute cases of female genital mutilation and child marriage and ensure that victims have access to appropriate remedies.

E.Family environment and alternative care (arts. 5, 9–11, 18 (1) and (2), 20, 21, 25 and 27 (4))

Family environment

21.Please inform the Committee of measures taken to ensure that:

(a)Both parents share the responsibilities for the upbringing and development of their children;

(b)The views of children are given due consideration in decisions on residence and contact with the parent they do not live with, including by ensuring that relevant professionals have expertise in interviewing children and assessing children’s narratives;

(c)Factors such as a parent’s addiction, mental illness or violence towards or murder of the other parent are given due consideration in decisions on the residence of children and their contact with the parent they do not live with.

Children deprived of a family environment

22.Please explain the measures taken to:

(a)Regulate practices relating to the removal of children, including children of African descent, from their families and ensure the application of adequate safeguards based on the best interests of the child in determining whether a child should be placed in alternative care;

(b)Enable children with parents who are in prison to maintain personal relationships and have access to adequate support from social services;

(c)Provide diverse support, including financial and social resources, to foster families and parents of children who return to their families after being placed in alternative care.

F.Children with disabilities (art. 23)

23.Please provide information on the measures taken to:

(a)Ensure the right of children with disabilities to be heard and to receive appropriate communication support in all decision-making that affects them;

(b)Ensure access for children with disabilities to personal assistance, rehabilitation and assistive devices and provide parents and guardians with the necessary community-based services to care for their children at home;

(c)Abolish the provision of the Education Act that makes the acceptance into school of a child with disabilities conditional upon certain factors and ensure that adequate human, material and technical resources are available for children with disabilities to have access to and benefit from inclusive education;

(d)Build the capacities of parents and teachers of children with disabilities to recognize and address the special needs of children with disabilities;

(e)Conduct research and collect data on violence against children with disabilities.

G.Basic health and welfare (arts. 6, 18 (3), 24, 26, 27 (1)–(3) and 33)

Health, including mental health, and health services

24.Please provide information on the measures taken to:

(a)Ensure prompt and efficient access to high-quality health services for children in disadvantaged or marginalized situations, including children in alternative care, children living in poverty, asylum-seeking and refugee children and children who do not identify with the gender given to them at birth;

(b)Raise awareness on the importance of breastfeeding and implement the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes;

(c)Support children, in particular children with disabilities, who are suffering from psychosomatic disorders and mental health problems and their families by providing psychological counselling and emotional support services;

(d)Conduct research on how children’s mental health issues are diagnosed;

(e)Prioritize the provision of science-based psychological counselling and specialist support for children and their parents and teachers over the prescription of drugs for addressing attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and other behavioural specificities;

(f)Address the high incidence of depression, mental illness and self-harm, and the causes thereof, in particular among girls, asylum-seeking children, children with disabilities and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex children.

Standard of living

25.Please provide information on the measures taken to:

(a)Increase the daily allowance for asylum-seeking children and for families with more than two children and provide support for single-parent families, undocumented children and other children in disadvantaged socioeconomic situations;

(b)Prevent the eviction of children from their homes;

(c)Support children in street situations and children living in temporary accommodation, including those living with adults.

Impact of climate change on the rights of the child

26.Please provide information on the measures taken to:

(a)Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 per cent by 2020 and make electricity production from 100 per cent renewable sources by 2040;

(b)Ensure that the activities of private and publicly owned companies, both onshore and offshore, in particular companies in the fossil fuel industry, take into consideration the impact of climate change on the rights of the child.

H.Education, leisure and cultural activities (arts. 28–31)

Education

27.Please provide information about the following:

(a)Measures taken to address municipal disparities and improve educational outcomes for children in disadvantaged or marginalized situations, including children in disadvantaged socioeconomic situations, children in alternative care, asylum-seeking children, children considered as being “in transit”, Sami children and children with disabilities;

(b)Plans to implement the recommendations contained in the report of the Ministry of Education and Research issued in 2020, including to reduce school segregation and to improve the allocation of resources in the education sector;

(c)Efforts to address absenteeism at all school levels and dropout from the upper secondary school level, including plans to implement the recommendations of the national inquiry conducted on the subject in 2016;

(d)The content of human rights education and sexual and reproductive health education and whether they include material on non-discrimination, sexual orientation and gender identity;

(e)Measures taken to improve the quality of early childhood education, including by hiring qualified preschool teachers and staff;

(f)Mechanisms to monitor private schools’ compliance with national educational standards and regulations;

(g)Measures taken to ensure that all children in upper secondary school, including children in disadvantaged socioeconomic situations, have access to high-quality virtual classes in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rest, leisure, recreation and cultural and artistic activities

28.Please provide information on the mandate and activities of the sports ombudsman and the findings of the study conducted in 2020 on improving governance and transparency of the sports movement. Please also inform the Committee about the measures taken to:

(a)Provide children, in particular girls, children with disabilities, asylum-seeking and refugee children and children in disadvantaged socioeconomic situations, with access to accessible and inclusive sports and recreational, leisure, cultural and artistic activities;

(b)Combat segregation, abuse and harassment in sports associations.

I.Special protection measures (arts. 22, 30, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37 (b)–(d) and 38–40)

Asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children

29.Please provide information on the following:

(a)Any assessments of the impact of the Act on temporary restrictions on the possibility of obtaining a residence permit in Sweden on children’s rights, in particular to development, health and education;

(b)Procedures at the national and municipal levels for investigating the disappearances of unaccompanied migrant children from their accommodations and ensuring their protection from sexual exploitation and abuse;

(c)Efforts to explicitly include child-specific forms of persecution and a best interests of the child determination into the immigration legislation that is currently under development, including to ensure that children who are separated and put into care after suffering violence or abuse from their parents are not deported with their abusive parents;

(d)Policies for ensuring that the guardians of unaccompanied migrant children are adequately trained, not over-burdened and able to provide regular support to the children in their care;

(e)Measures taken to expedite the processing of asylum applications and ensure that all asylum-seeking children are individually assessed and promptly provided with basic necessities and access to health care and education;

(f)Procedures for conducting age assessments of asylum-seeking and refugee children, including unaccompanied migrant children.

Administration of child justice

30.Please inform the Committee about the measures taken to:

(a)Ensure that children who are detained have the reasons for their detention and their rights explained to them immediately and in a manner that is understandable to them;

(b)Promote alternative measures to custody and detention and ensure that detention, including custody and pretrial detention, is used as a last resort, for the shortest possible period of time, and that it is regularly subjected to judicial review;

(c)Incorporate a provision on the maximum duration of deprivation of liberty in all settings into all relevant legislation;

(d)Ensure and support the right of children accused of crimes to effective legal representation and participation throughout the child justice process.

Children who are victims and witnesses of crimes

31.Please explain the measures in place to:

(a)Protect children who are victims and witnesses throughout legal proceedings, in particular in cases relating to violence and sexual offences, by ensuring that all children who are victims receive legal representation, compensation for damages, the status of aggrieved party in all legal proceedings and support from a barnahus;

(b)Prevent the protraction of processes involving children who are victims;

(c)Improve the reporting and prosecution of sexual offences, to ensure the full psychological and physical protection of children who are victims and witnesses, including those with disabilities.

J. Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography

32.Please inform the Committee about measures taken to implement its previous recommendations (CRC/C/SWE/CO/5, para. 56), as well as the more detailed recommendations made by the Committee in its concluding observations on the initial report submitted by the State party under article 12 (1) of the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (CRC/C/OPSC/SWE/CO/1), including efforts to:

(a)Criminalize all offences referred to in articles 1, 2 and 3 of the Optional Protocol and all forms of child sexual abuse material, including the use of children in pornographic performances and materials, and make sexual exploitation punishable with sanctions commensurate with the gravity of the crime, with reasonable exceptions to avoid the prosecution of adolescents for consensual activities;

(b)Strengthen the provision of legal protection for all children who are victims of sexual exploitation, including those between 15 and 17 years of age;

(c)Reconsider its evaluation of the purchase of a sexual act of a child and the exploitation of children for sexual purposes as “less serious sexual offences against children” and remove the requirement of double criminality for extradition in cases in which such offences are committed outside its territory;

(d)Provide systematic training on the Optional Protocol for all professionals working with and for children;

(e)Withdraw its declaration on article 2 (c) of the Optional Protocol.

K. Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict

33.Please inform the Committee about measures taken to implement its previous recommendations (CRC/C/SWE/CO/5, para. 54), as well as the more detailed recommendations made by the Committee in its concluding observations on the initial report of the State party under article 8 of the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict (CRC/C/OPAC/SWE/CO/1), including efforts to:

(a)Raise the minimum age of volunteers participating in firearms training provided by voluntary defence organizations to 18 years of age and provide such organizations with information and training on the Optional Protocol and other relevant international standards;

(b)Prohibit the export of arms, including small arms and light weapons, to countries where children are known to be, or may potentially be, recruited or used in hostilities.

III.Statistical information and data

34.The statistical information and disaggregated data provided by the State party should cover the period since the consideration of its previous reports on the implementation of the Convention and the Optional Protocols thereto. The data should be disaggregated by age, sex, ethnic origin, national origin, type of disability, geographical location and socioeconomic status.

35.The provision of tables presenting trends over the reporting period is recommended, and explanations or comments on significant changes that have taken place over the reporting period should also be provided.

A.General measures of implementation (arts. 4, 42 and 44 (6))

36.Please provide information on the budget lines regarding children and the social services sectors, indicating the amount allocated to each budget line and its proportion in terms of the total national budget.

B.General principles (arts. 2, 3, 6 and 12)

37.Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 34 above, on cases of discrimination affecting children, prosecutions brought before the courts under legislation governing non-discrimination and the sanctions imposed on perpetrators.

38.Please provide information on the number of child fatalities due to child abuse and neglect, violence, substance abuse and suicide, including attempted suicide.

C.Civil rights and freedoms (arts. 7, 8 and 13–17)

39.Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 34 above, on the following:

(a)Stateless children;

(b)Cases of information and communications technology-related violations of children’s rights and the number of such cases that have been investigated and prosecuted.

D.Violence against children (arts. 19, 24 (3), 28 (2), 34, 37 (a) and 39)

40.Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 34 above, on the following:

(a)Children who have been placed in solitary confinement and seclusion in a mental health-care institution or other type of institution;

(b)Cases of violence against children, including abuse, neglect, domestic violence and sexual exploitation and abuse in and outside the home, that have been reported to the authorities, investigated and prosecuted and the sanctions imposed on perpetrators, further disaggregated by type of offence;

(c)Protective measures and multidisciplinary remedies provided to children who are victims and witnesses of violence, in particular abuse, neglect and sexual exploitation and abuse;

(d)Intersex children who have received non-urgent and irreversible surgical or other procedures.

E.Family environment and alternative care (arts. 5, 9–11, 18 (1) and (2), 20, 21, 25 and 27 (4))

41.Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 34 above, on the following:

(a)Families and children receiving economic and other types of support services;

(b)Children in residential care, the number of such institutions and their size and the average length of stay;

(c)Children in family-based and community-based care;

(d)Children of incarcerated parents.

F.Children with disabilities (art. 23)

42.Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 34 above, on children with disabilities who are:

(a)Living with their families;

(b)Living in residential care, the number of such institutions and their size and the average length of stay;

(c)Living in family-based and community-based care;

(d)Attending regular schools and separate schools;

(e)Who have reported violence, including sexual violence.

G.Basic health and welfare (arts. 6, 18 (3), 24, 26, 27 (1)–(3) and 33)

43.Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 34 above, on the following:

(a)Children diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and attention deficit disorder;

(b)Children diagnosed with depression;

(c)Children living below the poverty line;

(d)Children in street situations and children living in temporary accommodation.

H.Education, leisure and cultural activities (arts. 28–31)

44.Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 34 above, on the following:

(a)School dropout among children, including children with disabilities;

(b)Cases of bullying, harassment and sexual abuse in schools.

I.Special protection measures (arts. 22, 30, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37 (b)–(d) and 38–40)

45.Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 34 above, further disaggregated by accompanied or unaccompanied status, on the following:

(a)Asylum-seeking and refugee children, as well as the average processing time for asylum applications;

(b)Asylum-seeking and refugee children who have obtained permanent residency since the Act on temporary restrictions on the possibility of obtaining a residence permit in Sweden came into effect;

(c)Disappearances of unaccompanied migrant children and the number of such cases that have been investigated.

46.Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 34 above, further disaggregated by type of crime, on the following:

(a)Children in detention, including pretrial detention, in facilities such as police cells and prisons, the average length of stay and the number of such children who are placed in solitary confinement;

(b)Children referred to diversion and non-custodial sentencing options.

J.Optional Protocol to the Convention on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography

47.Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 34 above, on the following:

(a)Cases of the sale of children, child prostitution and child sexual abuse material that have been reported, investigated, prosecuted and sanctioned;

(b)Children who are victims of such crimes who have been provided with recovery assistance or compensation.

K.Optional Protocol to the Convention on the involvement of children in armed conflict

48.Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 34 above, on the following:

(a)Asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children entering the State party from areas where children may have been recruited or used in hostilities;

(b)Children within its jurisdiction who have been recruited or used in hostilities abroad;

(c)Children who may have been recruited or used in hostilities abroad who benefit from physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration measures.